Darrell Todd Maurina By Darrell Todd Maurina Freedom Newspapers Darrell_Maurina@link.freedom.com The jury in the vehicular homicide trial of Harry L. Downey recessed without a verdict Thursday night after more than two hours of deliberations. Debates about basic facts and the interpretations of those facts have been frequent since the trial began in the courtroom of […]

Darrell Todd Maurina Johnny Washington has a warning for veteran’s groups: Dot your “i’s,” cross your “t’s,” or face major problems with state liquor and gaming regulators. Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of the Joint Veterans Council of Clovis, Washington said state veterans organizations and other private clubs have been forced to reexamine their activities following […]

Jim Lee Wednesday will be the last day of 2003. It seems like a couple of days ago we were talking about how all the computers would revolt when the year 2000 happened. We passed up that eagerly anticipated crisis without major mishap, so I suppose the start of 2004 won’t cause too many problems. […]

Michelle Seeber Four out of five Portales business employees sold alcohol to minors during an undercover sting conducted over the weekend, resulting in citations for both the business owners and the employees who sold the liquor. The only business to pass the undercover sting was Wal-Mart, leaving employees and owners of Town & Country, IGA, […]

Angela Peacock By Angela Peacock Freedom Newspapers Angela_Peacock@link.freedom.com Two Portales men who drowned in Ute Lake last August made a “bad decision” to leave their boat and try to swim through unfamiliar waters in the dark, a state police official said Monday. Toxicology reports released Monday show small amounts of alcohol were present in the […]

Tony Parra A Roswell woman was sentenced to four years in prison Friday in connection with a deadly crash two years ago that claimed the life of a Ruidoso woman. Deanna Willis, 29, was convicted in June of vehicular homicide for her part in a head-on collision north of Portales on U.S. Highway 70 that […]

Editor’s note: The crime report is compiled from incident reports filed by area law-enforcement officers. Police who responded to a fight early Friday morning at the 600 block of South Main Street ended up arresting a 39-year-old woman for driving under the influence. A man at the fight scene told police the woman hit him […]

Here are dispositions of court cases recorded recently in Portales’ Magistrate Court: • Naomi Acosta, 24, found guilty of embezzlement under $100 (three counts), received six months unsupervised probation. • Janie Arellano, 19, found guilty of selling or giving alcohol beverages to minors and possession; received 364 days of supervised probation; found guilty of issuance […]

Eric Butler A Roswell woman was convicted of vehicular homicide in District Court on Friday in connection with a head-on collision just north of Portales in July 2001 that took the life of a Ruidoso mother of two. Deanna Willis, 29, a single mother of four sons, faces a maximum penalty of six years in […]